“Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu announced that he was stepping down after being accused of bribery, fraud, obstruction of justice and witness tampering in an affidavit supporting a search warrant application earlier this month,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
It’s the latest fallout “from a sprawling federal public corruption investigation linked to the proposed sale of Angel Stadium and allegations that a secretive ‘cabal’ controlled Anaheim’s politics.”
“Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan (D) was recorded on a wiretapped phone call in 2018 discussing with lobbyist confidant Michael McClain a plan to arrange secret payments to a close political ally who had been implicated in a sexual harassment scandal,” the Chicago Sun Times reports.
Ex-Illinois Speaker Michael Madigan’s (D) “campaign fund paid $4 million last month to the legal firm defending him in his federal racketeering case, nearly doubling the total amount he’s sent to the firm over the last four years,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
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“The European Union’s anti-fraud body has accused Marine Le Pen and several of her party members – including her father – of embezzling about €620,000 while serving as members of the European Parliament,” The Guardian reports.
New York Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin (D) “surrendered early Tuesday morning to face a federal bribery conspiracy indictment in connection with a scheme to funnel fraudulent donations to a previous campaign,” the New York Times reports.
“The indictment, the result of an investigation by the F.B.I. and the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, accused Mr. Benjamin of conspiring to direct state funds to a Harlem real estate investor in exchange for orchestrating thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to Mr. Benjamin’s unsuccessful 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller.”
“Cryptocurrencies are more popular in countries perceived as corrupt or with strict capital controls, boosting the case for greater regulation of the industry,” Bloomberg reports.
“Former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R) used the authority of his office, the weight of his political influence and the power of his connections to help his friend and retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre boost a fledgling pharmaceutical venture,” Mississippi Today reports.
“Then he tried to cash in on the project when he left office, text messages show.”
NBC News: “Many who participated in what prosecutors are calling the largest fraud in American history—the theft of hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money intended to help those harmed by the pandemic — couldn’t resist purchasing luxury automobiles. Also mansions, private jet flights and swanky vacations.”
“They came into their riches by participating in what experts say is the theft of as much as $80 billion — or about 10 percent — of the $800 billion handed out in a Covid relief plan known as the Paycheck Protection Program. That’s on top of the $90 billion to $400 billion believed to have been stolen from the $900 billion Covid unemployment relief program — at least half taken by international fraudsters… And another $80 billion potentially pilfered from a separate Covid disaster relief program.”
“Federal prosecutors and the FBI are investigating whether Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin (D) of New York played a role in an effort to funnel fraudulent contributions to his unsuccessful 2021 campaign for New York City comptroller, and have issued subpoenas to his campaign advisers and the State Senate,” the New York Times reports.
“After decades operating in the shadow of Michael Madigan, Illinois Democrats on Wednesday sought to distance themselves from the longtime House speaker and state party chairman after he was indicted on federal corruption charges, even as Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office acknowledged the governor had spoken with investigators working the case,” the Chicago Tribune reports.
Former Illinois Speaker Michael Madigan (D), for decades one of the nation’s most powerful legislators, “was charged with racketeering and bribery, becoming the most prominent politician swept up in the latest federal investigation of entrenched government corruption in the state,” the AP reports.
“A massive leak from one of the world’s biggest private banks, Credit Suisse, has exposed the hidden wealth of clients involved in torture, drug trafficking, money laundering, corruption and other serious crimes,” The Guardian reports.
“Details of accounts linked to 30,000 Credit Suisse clients all over the world are contained in the leak, which unmasks the beneficiaries of more than 100bn Swiss francs held in one of Switzerland’s best-known financial institutions.”
“Sheldon Silver, the Democratic powerhouse who ruled Albany until he was convicted on federal corruption charges in a stunning fall from grace, has died,” the New York Post reports.
Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu has for several weeks been negotiating a plea agreement over corruption charges, Haaretz reports.
“A ‘moral turpitude’ clause would keep Netanyahu from running in elections until he’s around 80, effectively ending the career of your average politician.”
“Bribes to government officials who oversee the awarding of state contracts in Russia are equivalent to roughly one third of the country’s entire national budget revenue,” the Times of London reports.
“A jury on Monday found Philadelphia union leader John Dougherty and City Councilmember Bobby Henon guilty of federal bribery charges — a decision likely to send both men to prison and seismically upend politics and organized labor in the city for years,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“The convictions will cost both men their jobs, and in Dougherty’s case, end his nearly three decades as a one-man center of gravity at the helm of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers — a tenure in which he transformed the union into one of Philadelphia’s most effective advocates for workers and a political powerhouse that propelled dozens of allies into statewide and local office.”
“Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas (D) was indicted on federal charges that he took bribes from a USC dean in exchange for directing millions of dollars in public funding to the university when he was on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors,” the Los Angeles Times reports.
“Ridley-Thomas, one of the most powerful figures in Los Angeles politics, is the third L.A. City Council member to face federal corruption charges over the last two years.”
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s (R) former top aide, Roy McGrath, “faces dozens of federal and state criminal charges that he misled officials into paying him a six-figure severance, embezzled funds for personal purposes, and illegally recorded phone calls with the governor and other members of Hogan’s staff,” the Baltimore Sun reports.
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Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.